


Range Day

by jecooksubether



Series: Tigereans and Weres [8]
Category: Furry (Fandom), Original Work
Genre: Aliens, Alternate Universe - Modern with Magic, Alternate Universe - Werecreatures, Gen, Original Fiction, POV First Person, Shapeshifting, Slice of Life
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-09-10
Updated: 2020-09-10
Packaged: 2021-03-06 21:35:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 4,454
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26385751
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jecooksubether/pseuds/jecooksubether
Summary: Wherein the author is involved in an incident and deals with the aftermath of it.Trigger warnings:  firearm discharge, murder of non-innocents
Series: Tigereans and Weres [8]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1914835





	Range Day

**July 7th**

I had been hard at work for the past two weeks removing the drivetrain on the embassy’s Liberty and installing the custom built mounting brackets and parts on the chassis. My ‘graduating project’ was to retrofit the small SUV to run from one of the tigerean’s portable power converters. I already knew how the converter worked- my first task was to translate the user and service manuals for them from _trrth_ to English and work out a means to run Terran equipment from it.

I had finished the final installation of the parts, and was ready to take the SUV out on a test run. I was washing the grease off my hands when T’Grlf, followed by Sh’Meral and Ch’Mrr, came in through the office to check up on me, largely to make sure that I was still breathing, and that the jeep hadn’t fallen off the stands again. (Yeah, that was _fun_ ; I found out that I could bench-press the jeep in hybrid form that morning with one arm and nearly trashed a tie-rod propping the thing long enough to get me out of there with the other.) I explained to the assembled company that the truck was ready for it’s first run, and that I wanted to take it to the local fast food restaurant on a ‘milk run’.

Sh’Meral had a different idea. “I want to visit one of your food stores, under the same premise that we used for the visit to the water park.”

I looked at them both. Ch’Mrr had a defeated look on his face and shrugged. “I’m assuming you will be insisting on this, then?” She nodded. I decided to take an extra precaution before leaving, and went out to my car.

Returning from my car with a small case, I got puzzled looks from the trio. T’Grlf was the first to speak. “What do you have in the case, apprentice?”

I shrugged and opened the case and removed a Springfield XD9 holstered in an IWB (inside waist-band) holster and a spare mag. “Since you insist on coming along, I figured I ought to bring this with just in case. This way, If the absolute worst occurs, I can assist in defending you, or myself if they take an interest in me.”

Ch’Mrr looked at me with interest, and said “Very well. Keep it hidden.” T’Grlf went to say something but Sh’Meral gave him a rather significant look, and he closed his mouth without saying anything.

I nodded, and left to get the firearm attached and concealed. As I was finishing, Sh’Meral ‘pathed me a message. {T’Grlf is **not** happy with you regarding your choice to bring that in here. However, I have overridden you, as technically you are not under our diplomatic immunity, and Ch’Mrr is bonded to defend me first. I understand your reasons, at least. If you wish, we will loan you a stunner for this trip.} I nodded to myself, checked the view in the mirror, and opened the door. I ‘pathed back, [ _I appreciate your concern, and I_ _’m sure T’Grlf will... punish me over my choice later. While I also appreciate your offer for a stunner, I don’t know how to use one, nor do we have enough time at the present for me to use it in any confidence. This tool I know exactly when, and how, to use it properly._ ]

I got in the truck’s driver seat as Ch’Mrr and Sh’Meral got in the back seat. The front passenger seat was in use holding a laptop cabled to the diagnostic port on the truck’s newly programmed computer. I turned the key to the RUN position on the jeep as T’Grlf opened the rolling door of the garage. Pressing the START button that I had added to the dash, I saw the indicators go from amber, to yellow, and then green. I glanced at the laptop’s screen, and saw that the computer and power converter were performing as intended. I moved the gear selection lever from P to R, and slowly backed the truck out of the shop and into the parking lot. As I cleared the door, T’Grlf started it back down again as I moved the lever from R to D, and I was mildly surprised to hear the four wheel-mounted motors whine a bit as they began to drive the truck forward proper. I clicked my radio on, and heard T’Grlf’s voice over it wishing us luck and a safe trip.

We pulled into the lot of the store I had selected and unfortunately, the only parking spot was not in the best area. I had a really bad feeling creep into the back of my mind. I had been told by the Archmage during my training that this sort of thing might happen, and to be extra cautious when it did. As we got out of the truck, the sensation only worsened, and I knew something was up. Sh’Meral noticed the slight change in my gait as I performed a 10% shift to be able to access my magic. {Expecting trouble, then?} I merely nodded. We went into the store and for about five minutes, I led the two of them around and explained how food stores on our world worked and operated. We also found dinner, I paid, and we left.

Unfortunately, as we were getting into the jeep, the bad feeling spiked. I spun around and saw three young men, all of them holding pipes or something and with gun-shaped bulges in their pockets about twenty yards out. They took notice of us, and started walking rather rapidly in our direction. _Shit-poo_. I pathed to Ch’Mrr [ _We_ _’ve got company_ ] and made to get in the truck as quickly as possible. Ch’Mrr shoved Sh’Meral inside and I _felt_ the defensive shield flicker into place around the truck. _Showtime_ , I thought, and spun back to face them. They were only ten yards out and they had dropped their pipes and had each pulled out firearms of some sort. I heard a _phrrrrmm!_ from where Ch’Mrr was standing, and I assumed that he had his stunner out and charged.

What happened next is hard to describe- while it only lasted for about ten seconds, to my enhanced and now adrenaline-hopped senses, time seemed to slow down and everything began crystal clear. I could clearly see the revolvers the three had, the look of hatred for myself and my companions on their faces along with catching a whiff of something acrid from them, as we were downwind. As the middle one drew down on me, I reached for and drew my firearm from it’s hiding place. As I had been taught, I parked it’s sights on center of mass and waited for a half instant. I saw the flash, but barely felt the impact as he fired his revolver, and my response was instant- two squeezes of the trigger, and then I changed targets to the one on his right. Two more squeezes and he started down as well. I went to deal with the third when I saw a distortion in the air hit him and knock him down. At that point, time sped back up, and I heard sirens closing in on us amongst the screaming. I was still looking intently at the three on the ground, and a half second before Scottsdale PD roared up on us, I dropped the mag out, racked the slide back to unload, and set the two items on the ground and sat down with my hands in plain view.

It took a good hour for things to settle down, during which time the PD allowed me to wander somewhere reasonably private and throw up, and escorted me back into the food store to get some ice, something to put our purchased food in to keep cold, and an armful of bottled water. While I fully expected to have my firearm confiscated, this did not happen. It turned out the two I dispatched had rap sheets several miles long, and the third one recovered from the stun about two minutes after the police rolled up. This made for some amusement which resulted in him being stuffed into the back of a cruiser rather unceremoniously. The police labeled the whole thing justified and Ch’Mrr got off with diplomatic immunity after explaining what happened. The third one’s immediate and full confession helped things immensely, although I did notice an odd glow from his eyes. We were just about ready to depart when I noticed the hole in my shirt from being shot in the shoulder. This resulted in a brief search to find the bullet, which was easy enough- after passing through my shoulder, it was trapped by the defensive shield around the jeep and was on the ground next to it. I picked it up and put it in my pocket, and we all piled back in for the trip back.

To say that T’Grlf was upset was the understatement of a lifetime- He had laid into me entirely in _trrth_ from the second I parked the jeep inside after dropping Ch’Mrr and Sh’Meral off out front right up until I slammed the bathroom door in his face after peeling the shirt off to see where I had gotten shot. And when I found out where, and what happened, everyone within 50 yards of the building heard my wideband mental scream of rage for the Archmage. I opened the door, and he was physically holding T’Grlf back from me and wearing a rather unpleasant frown on his face. Before I got the chance to open my mouth, he started in. “Were you sleeping when we told you that you had a rapid healing ability? And what in the fiery infernal realms were you _thinking_ when you decided to strap that on?!”

Taken aback, I thought for a moment. “My primary thought was to protect my two friends. Sh’Meral over-rode T’Grlf, otherwise I would have put it away. In any case, they fired on me first.” I waved the holed shirt at him, and let T’Grlf slam into my own defensive shield I had cast while I was in the bathroom. “I reacted based on the training I took when I got my carry permit. I still don’t have your approval to use magic in public, so this is the only way I felt that I could defend myself. Ch’Mrr’s not bonded to defend me- While he’d protect me, it would be as a secondary option. His actions were to protect her, which left me outside the defensive bubble one of them placed around the jeep. I was just the unlucky dick who got shot first, and decided not to get hit a second time!”

I spun around and stomped off to the outside door, reciting every single cuss word I knew in the two languages I spoke. Sh’Meral and Ch’Mrr had entered the back area when they heard my multi-decibel retort and had come in to investigate. Ch’Mrr stopped me just before I got to the door. I tried to push him out of my way, which was a mistake. I found myself picked up and forcibly turned around to watch the audible carnage of Sh’Meral verbally laying into both the Archmage and T’Grlf. He set me back down and withdrew his claws from my torso. Leaning down, he said “Your food is getting cold out front. Come with me, I must speak with you.” It was about 15 minutes later that Sh’Meral came out front, and said that we were going to my place in the Jeep after dinner- She needed to have a private talk with the two of us.

The talk turned out to last most of the night, and encompassed pretty much everything I did wrong, and everything I did right. The latter of the two turned out to be much greater then the former- While the Archmage was pissed at me for getting into trouble, Sh’Meral had pointed out to him that I had acted in complete compliance of the human laws, and that I had not fired first. The bullet hole in my shirt and the deformed slug were proof of that. She also pointed out that I still had a slug in my shoulder, and proceeded to sit on me and used her claws to dig it out; I did **not** appreciate this, as it hurt a **LOT**. I asked her where the hell the second shot came from, and Ch’Mrr stated that the other shot came from the second one that I had removed from the gene pool. This had me surprised- I never saw the second flash, but then, I had concentrated on the one in the middle first. T’Grlf was just pissed off at me that I had a firearm stashed in my car at the shop, and when it was fully explained to him by both Sh’Meral and the Archmage (after she gave him a dressing down) he realized that he had been acting rather foolish. Then she turned her attention to me as Ch’Mrr came in the room.

“As for what you did wrong? You should have told us that you had a firearm in your car. We would have asked you to bring it inside and lock it in your desk. Also, while I understand partly why you did not use magic, I do have to wonder why you didn’t do something to deflect the attack in the first place.” I pondered this for a second, and responded.

“In all honesty? It never occurred to me. However, I have something of an aversion to tinkering with people’s minds, much as I don’t like people tinkering with mine. And not to sound too hypocritical, I did find some small amusement at the forced confession spell you dropped on the third guy. Nice touch.” She blushed slightly at this. “And while hind sight is always 20/20, I think that in the future, I’ll certainly explore more ways to avoid getting into that situation rather than allow a repeat. And I have a nasty suspicion that something like that might happen again.”

Ch’Mrr nodded grimly. “My friend, I think it is time for us to punish you for not telling us about the firearm. You have mop duty at the shop for the rest of the month, in addition to whatever T’Grlf dumps on you.”

I nodded. “Not a problem. I will admit that I was not certain how you would have reacted to me bringing a firearm in, so I kept it locked up out of sight in the car. I figured, ‘out of sight, out of mind’. I apologize for this false assumption, and gladly take my punishment for this oversight.”

As it was late, I got up and got drinks for everyone, and went to my room to change and hit the bathroom. As I came out, I was pretty much dogpiled onto the bed by the two of them, who were both fully undressed. Sh’Meral held my arms down by the simple expedient of sitting on my chest, while Ch’Mrr made quick work of the shorts I wore around the house when I relaxed. The two of them manhandled me until I was face down, and held me down. I heard Ch’Mrr’s voice to my right.

“And now, we reward you for your demonstration of honor to the two of us. Please remain still, or this will hurt much more than it should.”

I relaxed, figuring that if they were going to hurt me, they would have done it by now. I heard Ch’Mrr say clearly in _trrth_ , “As the eldest representative of the Clan Sn’rrth, I name you Ti’Grr of our clan. Welcome to our family, my brother! You have demonstrated your honor by risking your life to protect ours, and for this we honor this act.”

Sh’Meral spoke up next one my left. “As the trade representative to the tigerean empire, I witness this enrollment, and extend our protection to you as means of thanking your selfless act of honor and heroism.”

I felt something warm but sharp scratching on my right shoulder just above the shoulder blade in a pattern, and I stayed absolutely motionless despite the pain that started to bleed in. After a few minutes, it stopped, and the pain turned into a blazing burning sensation as the wound sealed itself. Ch’Mrr put a hand up to my head and formed a mental link. He then showed me what he had done to me. {This is the traditional place for the clan symbol. It will always be there regardless of what form you take. in your fur-bearing forms, the fur from the symbol will be black, while the immediate area around it will be your normal coloration. Wear our symbol with pride, brother.}

I was partly floored at what they had just handed me. Somehow my brain managed to re-engage and I recited back the proper words of thanks and acknowledgment for the ceremony they had just performed. Sh’Meral said, “Now that it’s done, I think we need to go swimming. Now.”

I looked at her. “Now? It’s 1 am, and the water’s probably bloody cold. But now?” My answer was that she picked me up and carried me outside and threw me in the pool as Ch’Mrr activated the distortion fields.

The next morning found the three of us curled up in my bed, with me in full form sandwiched between the two. Don’t ask, all I can say is that booze was involved, and that booze and tigereans (and therianthropes, for that matter) do **not** mix. T’Grlf had left me an email stating that a) I had passed my exam and had the day off because of that, and b) I had an additional month on the ol’ mop n bucket from him due to my goof. As I was finishing up with the usual morning routine, Ch’Mrr and Sh’Meral came in and sat down at the back table facing me. I went over and sat down as Ch’Mrr opened the case he had placed on the table. “I understand you have the day off. I wish to train you in the use of our weapons. Is there a place outdoors we can go for such things?”

I nodded. “Sure. However, they use paper and wooden target stands. Will your stunner have any effect on paper targets, or will they be set on fire?”

Chr’Mrr _chuffed_ and started right in, pointing the stunner away from the two of us. “This is our standard protective sidearm. It has three power settings. The lowest level is similar to the ‘taser’ device your species has developed. It is used for practice and to stun people with. The second level is lethal against targets that are not wearing armor. the highest setting is lethal against anything, regardless of armor. However, it will not penetrate our hulls, so we use this on all of our ships. We also have a larger version of this device similar to your rifles.”

He took out a small cylinder and inserted it into the grip of the stunner with a rather familiar sounding _phrrrrm!_ noise. Removing the cylinder, he explained that the rest would be done at the range. I nodded, and asked if they wanted to learn about any of the devices I had. Ch’Mrr said, “Yes. We both agreed last night that we should at least know how to load, unload, and use your primitive devices, in the event that we encounter anything like them, or if we have to use them.”

I nodded silently, and motioned for them to stay put for a moment. I went into my room and proceeded to pull what I figured they would encounter the most out and verify that they were unloaded and that the actions were open. For the next hour, I instructed them as best as I could on how our ‘primitive devices’ operated, as far as what controls were common, and how to load and unload them using dummy ammunition I had for such purposes. I also instructed them on the four cardinal rules (which, as it turned out, they had as well!), and as we broke for lunch, I made a phone call to one of the ranges that would probably suit us.

Finding out that we could drop in without too much hassle, we loaded up the Jeep and headed on over, with a quick stop by the Bass Pro to pick up some additional ammo for one of the firearms that I was low on, which was highly entertaining- both insisted on coming inside over my objections, and as a result we spent a good 30 minutes in there wandering around the store while I explained a good number of things to them, all the while being tailed by store employees initially, and ending up with the store manager herself as we ended up in the firearms section. As we climbed back into the jeep afterwards, I amusingly remarked that it was always a bit of a circus when we went anywhere, and this would probably be no different.

As we pulled up, we all put on hearing and eye protection, and I went to pay for us as Ch’Mrr started unloading the rifle cases and range bags. The range officer asked for them to fill out the address they were staying at here instead of their address on homeworld, and I commented mentally to Sh’Meral on how hip he was. Another RO pointed us at one of the tables on the side that was normally closed on slow days.

“This way, y’all are somewhat out of the way and can do your own thing without too many gawkers.”

I thanked him, and we got everything set up and waited for the cease fire. There was a bit of amusement as Ch’Mrr explained to the range officer that the stunner was unloaded, and demonstrated loading and unloading it for him. After the RO was satisfied, I went and placed the target at the 25 yard line, and we went back and waited for the range to go hot again. While we were waiting, I had explained all the rules, which were entirely safety related. “Trust me, you do **not** want to annoy the range officers- they can and will kick you out if you do not obey their rules.”

Ch’Mrr nodded sagely. “One of my duties on board our ship is to assist at the range there- we have similar rules, even with the devices not being lethal on their lowest power range.”

Ch’Mrr had stated that 25 yards was the maximum practical range for the hand-held weapons, so we started with the rifles I had brought with me instead. I found that both picked up on the rifles easily enough, so we switched to pistols, which were more of a challenge at that range. During the next cease fire period, I switched targets out and pulled the stand back in to the minimum that the range allowed, and we started with their devices. I was curious about them, so I asked the stupid question. “What do these fire, anyhow?”

Ch’Mrr stated, “These fire a measured pulse of phased hydrogen plasma. The device pulls the hydrogen from the energy cylinder, which also delivers the energy to power the metering circuits.”

I chuckled. “Heh. A PPG. Didn’t see that one coming, although that explains the load noise.” Sh’’Meral asked what was so funny, and I explained the reference. Ch’Mrr stated that the rifle version had a greater charge capacity and better accuracy at longer ranges. When I asked if it was in the 40 watt range and explained that reference, Sh’meral hit me in the shoulder. Ch’Mrr asked how much the target stands cost. “Ten dollars, if I recall correctly- but let me get the RO’s permission before you intentionally destroy one, ok?” I asked permission, and the RO told me to come and get him before we went to do this- they had one or two that were due to be scrapped anyhow. He also explained that we’d have to clean up any mess we made. This got me some looks from Ch’Mrr and Sh’Meral, and I spoke up. “Certainly. A clean range is a happy range.”

It was about an hour and a half later that we finally arrived back home- the ROs had all conferred, and asked the population that was at the range if they didn’t mind seeing what the PPG could do. Not surprisingly, the vote was unanimous, and Ch’Mrr took careful aim at the dilapidated stand 75 yards out with the rifle version of the PPG and pulled off a shot with the ‘definitely lethal’ setting. The stand was there one moment, and in a bright flash when the burst impacted it, was reduced to the two smoking legs sitting in the stand. A round of applause was had, and the range went cold as I went to clean up the small mess. The others at the range were all polite and friendly when it turned out what we were there to do. Not surprisingly, the Archmage was waiting for us when we arrived back at my house. “You realize that there were members of the LCA there, right?”

I nodded and held up Ch’Mrr’s souvenir, the two legs of the stand. “Yes, and when they went to talk to me, I told them that I was under the protection of three very powerful entities, two of which were getting trained on what firearms I had, and getting in some practice with theirs. They thought better of trying to detain me at that point, and left me alone.”

The Archmage looked at me. “I see. in view of that, and the events of yesterday, I think we need to up your schedule for defensive and offensive training. Tomorrow, I will teach you the basics of the three or four fighting styles I know work best with therianthropes, along with more magic-based defensive spells.” I inwardly groaned as he continued.

“In addition, I want to apologize for my outburst at the shop yesterday. You see, I’ve been accustomed to using magic for so long, that I’ve almost forgotten what it’s like to not use it to solve that sort of problem.” I accepted his apology, and we agreed that I should learn as much defensive tactics and techniques as possible. I did mention that we should coordinate with Ch’Mrr so as to not have overlap between my instructors, and he agreed before leaving that night.


End file.
